July 15, 2002

Coach Jay Wright and his staff will spend much of the month of July at the center of a whirlwind of activity. There are recruiting evaluations to be made at camps across the nation along with responsibilities on campus. In an effort to take you behind the scenes of this most hectic of off-season months, villanova.com will provide periodic updates from the Villanova men's basketball coaching staff during the course of July. (Please note that NCAA rules prohibit member institutions or its staff from mentioning or commenting on individual prospects.)

Today's Traveler: Jay Wright

Saturday, July 13

Philadelphia, Pa./Hempstead, N.Y.

With the amount of time we spend away from campus recruiting in July, we try never to forget that our most essential duty is tending to the guys on our current team. During July our entire team - incoming freshmen included -is on campus taking summer classes.

Thankfully, we have a terrific staff that is in daily communication with our players while we are on the road. Brett Gunning, Billy Lange and Jimmy Haggerty have their fingers on the pulse of the team and that certainly puts my mind at ease as I traipse around the country.

But I also try to be as involved as the travel schedule will allow. This weekend the logistics give me a great opportunity to re-connect with our guys.

I begin this morning by attending a Sonny Hill League game in Philadelphia. Our senior guard Gary Buchanan is playing and I wanted to drop in. Obviously Gary is going to be instrumental for us in 2002-03 and it's nice to get the chance to be around him. A little later in the morning I watch games where Ricky Wright and Andreas Bloch are playing.

By mid-afternoon I am back in the car headed north. The destination is the AAU Tournament at Hofstra. I will just echo what Joe said in his story last week: it's awesome to return to a place that means so much to you and your family. We spent seven years at Hofstra and it was a wonderful time.

One of the people I see is my former assistant Tom Pecora. Tom took over the program after I left and he is destined to do great things there.

During our time at Hofstra we were able to win consecutive America East titles. We earned rings for that but there was also a "back-to-back" ring that was produced. The ring was set inside glass and really makes for a nice desk or shelf piece. Somehow in the move to Villanova, mine had gotten lost in the shuffle. So I asked Tom if there was a way for me to get another one of those.

"No problem," he laughed. "I've got 50 of them in the trunk of my car."

Sure enough, T.P. opens the trunk of the car and there are boxes of them.

That night I took in the action at the Hofstra Arena. It felt good to be in the building again.

Sunday, July 14

Hempstead, N.Y./Villanova, Pa.

The morning begins with the semifinals and finals of the event at Hofstra. From there I attended an open gym workout featuring a prospect.

This evening we are hosting a barbecue at our house for the team. It's worked out so that all of us - Freddie, Joe and I - are in town at the same time so the entire staff and team will be together. We won't go over anything major. Instead we will just spend some time as a family.

We have six freshmen coming in this year so it's good to begin building a positive dynamic even at this early stage. There was a nice spread of food thanks to my wife Patty and I think everyone had a good time. Mostly, it was just good to see everyone in the same place.

After the players and some of the coaches' head back to campus, Joe, Freddie and I convene an impromptu meeting to assess where we are at in the overall recruiting scheme at this point. We discuss travel plans and make some telephone calls to prospects.

It's not the most formal setting. We are seated on stools around the kitchen island in my house. Joe is taking notes on a borrowed sheet of paper while Freddie goes him one better, jotting his notes on a paper towel. We will spend over two hours chewing on a variety of recruiting subjects.

The process of trying to get a read on just where you stand with a young man is fascinating. There are so many variables that go into it. Each person has their own take. The conversations with the young men on the telephone definitely help both parties. They allow the prospect and the coach to get a better feel for one another.

In the end, a lot of this comes down to your gut instinct. You have to trust your own experience and it's a huge plus for us that I have a staff with a great feel for recruiting. Both Freddie and Joe have been at this a long time and excelled at it. Brett recruited for us at Hofstra and Billy recruited players as a Division III head coach at Kings Point. Their input and feel is critical too.

In the final analysis, you simply make the best decision you can. This is not a science - you are dealing with young people and no one can be exactly certain how the future will play out. I learned that early in my career at Hofstra. We were thrilled to receive an early commitment from a player we liked. Unfortunately, that meant we had to tell another youngster we didn't have room for him. The second player was very upset and I felt badly about it. In the end, I felt even worse - the first young man did not have a great career for us while the athlete we turned down emerged as a conference player of the year in another league.

We all make mistakes.

But I am very enthusiastic about the situation at Villanova. I'm excited about 2002-03 and some of the talented young people we hope to add in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to read about Villanova Basketball.